Celtics-Cavs takeaways: Tatum and C bounce back in Game 3 win

Celtics-Cavs Takeaways: Tatum and C bounce back in Game 3 win originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics needed a strong response after their dismal Loss in game 2 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They rose to the occasion with a decisive win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals series.

Saturday’s game was very close from the start, with 11 lead changes in the first quarter. Boston took a nine-point halftime lead and began the third quarter on a 14-0 run, leading by as many as 23 points. Cleveland responded with a run of their own and cut the deficit to single digits early in the fourth. From there, the Celtics struggled defensively to earn a 106-93 victory in Game 3.

Boston got big games from its stars, Jayson Tatum (33 points) and Jaylen Brown (28 points). Jrue Holiday had a great offensive performance with 18 points, including 15 in the first half.

Cavs star Donovan Mitchell had another monster night on a losing drive, dropping 33 points while going 7 of 12 from 3-point range.

Game 4 in Cleveland is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. ET. Coverage starts at 6pm with Celtics pregame live on NBC Sports Boston.

Before we look at that matchup, here are three takeaways from Game 3.

Jayson Tatum calms critics

Tatum has been scrutinized recently for his poor shooting during the playoffs. While the five-time All-Star helped his team in other ways, the criticism was justified. He shot just 7-of-19 from the floor in Game 1 and 7-of-17 in Boston’s Game 2 loss.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated is among those who never lost faith in Tatum. Appearing in Celtics pregame livehe called for a bounce-back performance for the Celtics star.

“This game, everything will change” Mannix said on NBC Sports Boston. “Tone [Giles], [Brian] Scalabrine, Eddie [House], get your popcorn ready — this is the game changer for Jayson Tatum. Game 6 of the 2022 Conference Finals where Tatum went out against the Bucks, Game 7 last year against Philadelphia – let’s talk about Game 3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers for Jayson Tatum because he’s going to go out.

Mannix predicted that Tatum would “score well over 30, if not 40 points” in Game 3. He wasn’t far off.

Tatum set the tone for his big night with back-to-back 3-pointers on his first two shot attempts. He scored 12 points in the first quarter and finished the half with a game-high 18 points (6-12 FG), seven rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.

According to Celtics stats guru Dick LipeTatum became the first player in the 2024 playoffs to have at least 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal in the first half.

Tatum kept his foot on the gas, finishing with 33 points on 11-of-25 shooting, with 13 rebounds and six assists in 42 minutes.

There was still room for improvement — he was 2 of 8 from deep and there were some questionable shots in the fourth quarter — but this wasn’t Tatum’s performance to criticize. Most of the time, he put on a show in a game in which he needed to make a statement.

Jrue Holiday advances offensively

Holiday couldn’t have picked a better time to have one of his best games as a Celtic.

The all-defensive guard hasn’t had much of an offensive impact so far in the 2024 playoffs. That quickly changed in Game 3.

Holiday started hot with eight points in the first quarter and continued in the second, finishing the half with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Halfway through the second quarter, he had more points (15) than he had scored in a game since March 12.

He finished with 18 points (7-10 FG), his highest total since February 9th when he scored 20 against the Washington Wizards.

Despite having his best offensive performance in months, Holiday made an impact in every other facet of the game. He added eight rebounds and five assists while playing his usual stellar defense.

Tatum and Brown’s numbers will jump off the stat sheet, but Holiday set the tone early and was the unsung hero in Boston’s Game 3 victory.

Greatly improved defensive effort

After the Celtics’ Game 2 loss, Jaylen Brown repeatedly called his team’s defensive effort “unacceptable”. His message must have resonated, because the effort was undoubtedly present in Game 3.

Boston limited Cleveland to 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent (12-36) shooting from 3-point range. Donovan Mitchell was responsible for more than half of those 3s (7-12), while the rest of the Cavs shot a combined 5-of-24 from deep.

The Celtics also bounced back after losing the rebounding battle in Game 2. This time, they outscored Cleveland 44-35.

Derrick White put the exclamation point on the Celtics’ defensive performance with a decisive fourth-quarter block on Mitchell. Fittingly, this led to a strong finish from Brown at the other end.

If the Celtics stay like this defensively in Game 4, there’s no reason they can’t return to TD Garden with a chance to close out the series in front of their home crowd.